Cisco has always been about innovation. But Outshift — the company’s incubation engine for emerging technologies — is taking things to the next level.

From cloud native application security to GenAI to quantum networking and beyond, Outshift is shifting paradigms and upleveling expectations —  as it meets some of the biggest challenges of today, while anticipating tomorrow’s.

We spoke with Tim Szigeti, an Outshift distinguished technical marketing engineer — and a 26-year Cisco veteran with no less than 43 patents to his name — for his thoughts on great innovation, future directions in tech, and the “magical” creative process at Outshift.

 

Thank you, Tim! Perhaps we could begin with a bit about yourself. For starters, you have 43 patents!

Yes, it has been a very fun part of the job to be able to innovate like that. But there are inventors at Cisco with a lot more. So, I really don't want to claim too much there.

Well, as New York Giants pitcher Dizzy Dean once said, “It ain’t braggin’ if ya done it.”

Hah hah, I love that. That’s cool.

You’ve had a 26-year career at Cisco. What drew you here in the first place?

Coming out of school, I had done well. And I maybe had a head that was disproportionately large, as tends to happen when we’re young. But I soon came to a very important realization: that despite my years of study at university, at a cutting-edge company like Cisco I knew next to nothing! And I was lucky to have made it through the first week! But Cisco is such a great place to learn, and I’ve been learning ever since.

And what has kept you here?

Well, I’m still learning, which is always exciting! And there's never any shortage of advances and evolutions in all these technologies. Most recently, I’ve been working on cutting-edge technologies like quantum computing and quantum networking, which is mind-blowing! And that keeps me excited to come to work every day.

Outshift is clearly a good fit for you. Tell us about its mission.

Outshift is Cisco's research, development, and incubation engine. Now, it’s true that every business unit within Cisco does great research and development, but these are oriented around making existing products and portfolios better in the markets we already play in. Whereas our charter is to see where else can Cisco play, where else can we bring our strengths and expertise and thought leadership to the fore. And it’s not just about new technologies, it's also about understanding new markets, new personas, new business challenges, etc. And then creating new solutions for our customers by using the best combination of emerging technologies.

It sounds like Outshift is firmly rooted in finding solutions to concrete business problems.

Yes, we’re driving solutions to problems that customers are already running into, or we predict will be running into soon. So, we want to have technology solutions ready for them when they do. It’s absolutely a venture-based approach, versus just researching technology out of general interest — which can lead to science projects that may showcase cool applications of technology, but which don’t really solve any pressing customer problems.

Is everyone at Outshift an engineer, like yourself?

No, we have many diverse talents on the team, absolutely. We do indeed have a lot of engineering talent, but as I mentioned, we are careful not to over-rotate to a very technology-centered approach. So, we are careful to balance engineering skillsets with product managers, market analysts, and people we've hired from venture capital firms, so that each can bring their unique perspectives to collectively steer our technology research and investments.

I’ve heard you speak of innovation as a creative, almost artistic endeavor. How do you support that dynamic, creative spark at Outshift?

That’s why it’s important to have a really diverse team of people who have different perspectives and different strengths, and, most of all, a positive, open, and collaborative attitude. Then the creative process becomes a magical thing. You start with an idea, and somebody makes it even better; then you continue to shape it, refine it, and it builds momentum, and sometimes even a life of its own. It's a very exciting process to be a part of!

What’s an Outshift innovation of which you are particularly proud?

There are many, but Panoptica is one of our leading innovations that we’ve brought to market. It's oriented in the space of cloud native application security. We recognize that applications have radically evolved and are no longer tightly coupled to hardware as they once were. Application platforms have evolved, from servers to VMs to containers to orchestrated containerized environments to serverless functions. So now your apps are very diffuse, dispersed, and dynamic. And in terms of security, traditional approaches no longer cut it. For instance, you can't just throw a firewall in front your app, which now exists as a composition of dozens or hundreds of microservices across multiple cloud providers, continually spinning up and down. An entirely new approach is needed to securing such cloud native apps. And since we've been a security leader for decades, now with Panoptica, we’re taking that leadership into an entirely new technology domain: cloud native. It’s very exciting!

Technology is so complex today. How important is simplifying things for the end user?

You hit on something very important. Sometimes powerful solutions can easily become overly complex, featuring endless nerd-knobs to tinker with and tune. And if a solution’s inherent complexity becomes an obstacle for adoption, then our customers won't be realizing its potential value and benefits. So yeah, we must make these solutions powerful and simple.

The Silicon One architecture is a great example of a breakthrough technology that aligns with Cisco’s purpose: powering an inclusive future for all — in this case, by saving energy and supporting sustainability. How important is that purpose at Outshift?

It’s absolutely important! We share the same mission as all of Cisco of bringing an inclusive future to all. And that starts with making sure we have a future to begin with, which is highly dependent on how sustainable we are today. We’ve been developing sustainability solutions via cloud-native and edge-native technologies, to name a few. As an example, we’ll be presenting a session at the next Cisco Live on how to use Cisco technologies to support better sustainability at home. This will feature various technologies like Internet of Things devices, Meraki sensors, home automation, and AI, to maximize the efficiency of our domestic electricity use. And at a previous Cisco Live, one of our engineering leaders presented an amazing session on all the emerging technologies Cisco is providing to support sustainability initiatives at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

What are some upcoming innovations that you are excited about?

Again, I'm particularly excited about our work in quantum networking. I believe our research team is setting goals that are groundbreaking, game changing, and paradigm shifting. And we’re already making this real! For example, at Cisco Live in June, we will be demonstrating not only a quantum network simulator, but also a quantum random number generator that does readings of quantum bits in real time to produce a truly random string. In contrast, most other random number generators (which incidentally are the fundamental building blocks for cryptography), are based on pseudo-random algorithms. And there's so much more in the vision and in the pipeline to come that I'm truly excited to be involved!

In terms of security, there's a race against time. If quantum technologies fall into the wrong hands…

Yes, when it comes to security, quantum is a double-edged sword: It does present a threat to specific types of cryptography today, notably the public key infrastructure. However, it also promises unprecedented capabilities to prevent eavesdropping altogether, via unique properties like no cloning and quantum entanglement. So, developing quantum communications solutions is not only imperative, but is also a fantastic opportunity for Cisco to extend its decades of networking leadership — by taking a quantum leap!

Of course, AI looms large.

Absolutely! The leap forward with Generative AI in just the last two years has been phenomenal! We’re already at the point where GenAI can facilitate almost any knowledge-worker role. And so, it’s no surprise that customers are racing to implement GenAI within their organizations, but very few feel ready to do so in a secure and compliant manner. Thus, we’re actively developing solutions to make Gen AI easier, faster, and safer to consume. In fact, at Cisco Live, we’ll be talking about one of our newest solutions, Motific, which is a GenAI hub that enables IT departments to implement centralized GenAI services, policy, and security in a compliant manner throughout their organization, without worrying about private data being leaked.  

Sounds like there’s no shortage of amazing things to come!

Yes, whether we’re looking at cloud native, GenAI, quantum, or anything else that comes up on the radar, it’s a very exciting time to be in high tech. And Outshift, which is on the cutting edge of it, is the most exciting place to be!